Special Report on the SME Instrument

As the SME Instrument has been redesigned into the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator Pilot for 2021-2027, the European Court of Auditors was called upon creating a report in which the European auditors assessed whether this instrument has effectively supported innovation by SMEs; whether it has targeted the right type of SMEs; if it achieved wide geographic coverage; if the selection process and Commission support were effective, and if the Commission adequately monitored and followed up the instrument, in order to make improvements.

Overall, the special report concluded that the SME Instrument provides effective assistance to SMEs in developing their innovation projects and that having the EU branding helps companies to attract additional investment; however, the auditors also pointed out that the programme has shown a few short comings that, if assessed properly, would have been able to enhance the SME Instrument efficacy even further.

First of all, the frequent changes in the objectives and target groups have caused great confusion over the course of the programme and the late adaptation to the type of applicants (who progressively moved to a younger SMEs' audience) have slowed down the growth of the SME Instrument. Also, heavily relying upon local stakeholders (NCP; EEN) to promote the SME Instrument has proved to be an ineffective strategy and seriously lowered the otherwise enormous reach of the programme. In this regard, the report goes on remarking the fact that, whilst the impact of NCPs varied greatly between the Member States, scarce support from the Commission; no budget allocation to sustain dissemination activities and overlapping duties have been reported as the main causes for such shortcoming. Finally, other important matters such as failures in the online submission system; shortage of expert reviewers and no differentiation between resubmitted and new proposals have been highlighted as challenges to tackle in order to improve the impact of the SME Instrument

In conclusion, the Special Report provides a thorough list of recommendations that should be implement buy the start of the next Framework Programme, which include:
1.) Improve marketing and communication strategy from National Contact Points and the Enterprise Europe Network to SMEs by promoting peer-learning projects and the exchange of best practice and ensuring that targeted support to the network of National Contact Points for SMEs is operational at the beginning of Horizon Europe, in order to better raise awareness amongst SMEs.
2.) Provide remote evaluators with additional time to conduct their work by setting up a two-way information channel between remote evaluators and jury members to allow better access to the evaluation and provide with feedback on its quality;
3.) Develop purpose-built IT tools to reliably manage the submission and resubmission process, which should be kept separated and, especially with regards to the resubmission, limited, thus freeing up resources which are currently used to re-perform evaluations of the same proposal in multiple successive cut-offs;
4.) Collaborate with Member States and national promotional institutions to promote and advice on nationally backed financial scheme, similar to Phase 1, that might meet the financial needs of the SME-I beneficiaries.

Full version of the report and its recommendations is available here.
Source: https://www.eca.europa.eu/en/Pages/DocItem.aspx?did=52862

by Jonny O'Rourke

Keep Calm and Carry On

After three and a half years since the "gamble of the Century", the UK Government has finally delivered Brexit and the UK's departure from the EU will become definite at the end of this year. This poses some important questions. What of all the European funding programmes the UK has so successfully taken part in? What of its participation in Horizon 2020? Will the UK participate in Horizon Europe?

In response to these question that have been worrying researchers, scientists and industry, both home and abroad, the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) department has released a statement where it urges UK entities to "continue to participate in, bid for and lead projects in the European Union’s (EU) flagship programme Horizon 2020, as if the UK remained a Member State, even after the UK exits the EU on 31 January 2020."

This continued participation, at least for the remainder of 2020, is indeed great news for the UK's national framework which is the second highest recipient of Horizon 2020 funding for science and innovation. On top of that, the transition period, which started on 1st February 2020 will guarantee that researchers and businesses can continue to participate in ALL programmes financed by the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and receive EU grant funding for the lifetime of individual projects, including projects finishing after the transition period ends in 2020. 

So, does this mean that it is going to be "business as usual" until the end of the year? On the whole, yes it does; however, we do still recommend if you double check the eligibility criteria for any programme you are considering applying to as a very limited number of Horizon 2020 programmes, which involve access to security-related sensitive information restricted for EU Member States, may be restricted to UK applicants and experience relevant changes in those cases where the project has already started. In this regard, we strongly advise to wait for formal communication from the European Commission or, in case of urgency, to contact directly [email protected].

RedKnight's priority remains to assist UK researchers and business to access the best available opportunity for their projects, continuing to invest in our capabilities to secure EU funding, whilst expanding our portfolio to provide our clients with the best possible environment for international collaboration.
For more information on our services, please visit www.redknightconsultancy.co.uk or contact us at [email protected].

by Jonny O'Rourke

UK access to EU funding secured during transition period

Will UK entities be able to apply for Horizon 2020 funding during the transition period? This has certainly become one of our most FAQs since the December vote to agree the withdrawal agreement.

We are still awaiting official confirmation from the UK Government at this point, but expect that guidance will be updated in the next week or so.

Essentially, if the withdrawal agreement is voted through, it means the UK move into the transition period during which it will continue to contribute to the EU budget and therefore remain in EU programmes (as if a member state). This means UK entities CAN STILL APPLY as they did before and the EU will pay out the grant as currently the case.

So It should be ok to continue to submit bids to the Horizon 2020 programme, but clearly this is dependent on the withdrawal agreement being ratified.

by Jonny O'Rourke